Fifth-place Cubs fire general manager Hendry  —  With one of the highest payrolls but the second worst record in the National League, the Chicago Cubs fired general manager and vice president Jim Hendry on Friday.  —  Assistant general manager Randy Bush was named Interim general manager, the team announced.

Pirates, Jose Tabata Nearing Extension  —  1:48pm: MLBTR's Tim Dierkes hears that Tabata's deal with the Pirates will include three team options (Twitter link).  Denard Span's five-year, $16.5MM deal presumably figured prominently in to the discussions.  —  12:47pm: The sides are nearing …

NL MVP race just one big mess  —  Selecting the winner right now is, well, not easy ... and it might not get easier  —  Here comes a question we've been tossing at people all over baseball for the past two weeks.  And it has reduced every one of them into doing more bumbling and stumbling than rumbling and grumbling.

Masterson goes six strong; Indians top White Sox to win series  —  CHICAGO — Justin Masterson pitched six effective innings, Kosuke Fukudome had a tiebreaking RBI triple and the Cleveland Indians inched closer to the top of the AL Central with a 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

Tired-but-true excuse by Red Sox  —  Exhausted bats easy to explain  —  + Recent Articles + Recent Blog Entries + Email + Bio  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Red Sox [team stats] feel victimized by their schedule, and they're not happy about it.  —  As the team deals with injuries to David Ortiz …

Draft maneuvers by Nationals, Pirates drawing the ire of Selig … While the Nationals and Pirates were patting themselves on the back for jobs well done after their amateur draft signings, baseball commissioner Bud Selig wasn't nearly as impressed.  According to people in attendance …

Reality host Lopez convinces home-run legend to face ‘H8R’  —  Barry Bonds will try to rehabilitate his tarnished image by confronting a fan who hates him on the upcoming reality show “H8R.”  —  On the show, the MLB home-run king will watch a tape of one of his biggest detractors chewing him out …

Six* reasons the Angels are still in it  —  If the Rangers win the AL West this year, you'll live with that fact for the rest of your lives.  So there's no harm living the next couple weeks thinking that the Angels still have a shot.  Maybe that's delusional, but you know who else was delusional?

Mets land in real Catch-22 due to shoddy defense  —  SAN DIEGO — Terry Collins spoke almost wistfully, as if he and his coaching staff had thrown their full weight into the Mets' defensive dilemma without any tangible results.  —  “Nobody takes infield anymore at the major-league level,” …

Blue Jays try to continue run barrage vs. Athletics  —  The Sports Network  —  (Sports Network) - The Toronto Blue Jays haven't been shy about scoring runs this season and lately it's becoming the norm.  —  Averaging over seven runs per game in their last 11 contests (46 total) …

Ryan Mattheus left last night's game because of ... Jayson Werth?  —  The focus on Ryan Mattheus after last night's 3-1 Nationals win should have been on the one batter he faced, a crucial strikeout of Paul Janish in the sixth inning with men on the corners, two outs and the Nationals up one run.

Ex-congressman: Roger Clemens has ‘suffered enough’  —  A former U.S. representative who prodded the Justice Department investigation that led to charges against Roger Clemens for lying to Congress said the seven-time Cy Young Award winner has paid his dues, and he doesn't see a reason to continue putting him on trial.